killer_roach wrote on Jan 14, 2013, 23:20:Ballmer's not so much the issue - it's Microsoft's corporate culture that has devolved into tribalism over the past couple of decades. Nothing gets done of any consequence because nobody wants to step on another division's turf. Ballmer's a numbers guy, but he's not a manager of any sense.

I disagree, Ballmer promoted that sort of culture, it's pretty apparent in their huge talent drain over the past 5 years and how poorly all divisions have interacted. Ballmer is a results person and didn't care about the process, he's even said as much before. The trouble with that approach is a lack of cohesion and too much competition isn't good internally for morale which shows up in your end products. The fighting also leads to a lack of identity for products and branding confusion. How many mail products did Microsoft have? Windows Live Mail Outlook Express Hotmail Outlook. I'm sure I'm missing a few there.

So many missed opportunities under Ballmer that it can't be ignored too. Microsoft is constantly playing catch up on every front or killing products before they even hit market. Zune, Kin, UMPC, WinCE, Docs.com, Surface, Mediaroom, Courier, ten years of PDA/Phone shit, etc. Windows 8 is the epitomy of Microsoft - a confused and jumbled effort that can't seem to decide what it wants to be.